


Marathon

by LadyKes



Series: POV [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-07 05:11:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3162500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKes/pseuds/LadyKes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione's perspective of the first date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marathon

Hermione had woken up that morning still in a bit of a daze. Viktor Krum had asked her to the Yule Ball. Her daze lasted through breakfast (where Viktor looked at her and gave her an almost imperceptible smile before reverting back to his standard scowl) and halfway through morning classes, though she still correctly answered any questions asked of her. Now she was at lunch and watching a rather interesting complicated exchanging of a note. She hadn’t seen where it started, but it had now passed from Ravenclaw to Slytherin, then back to Ravenclaw and it had just arrived at the Gryffindor table, having been passed between Padma and Parvati Patil. It then journeyed its way down the table, ultimately ending…in her lap? That complicated chain was for a note meant for her? How odd. She quickly opened it and saw that it read:

_Hermione,_

_We did not discuss where or when we would meet today. Is six o’clock in the library acceptable to you?_

_V_

She looked up to see Viktor looking at her and quickly scribbled her reply before resealing the note with her wand and handing it to Neville, whispering to him, “Neville, see that this gets back to Viktor Krum and make sure it goes all over the Great Hall first.” Neville looked at her like she’d lost her mind, but then shrugged and handed the note to Susan Bones in Hufflepuff and from there it went to Ravenclaw, back to Hufflepuff, and finally to Slytherin, where it was passed from a mischievous looking boy to Viktor. Viktor opened the note and then closed it and continued eating his lunch nonchalantly, so she did the same, ignoring Lavender Brown’s hissed, “Hermione, Parvati says that note originally came from someone in Slytherin. Who’s it from?”  
\----  
She was early, and she knew it, but she couldn’t stop herself from going to the library a few minutes before six. Besides, then she could get herself all set up and hopefully not look as nervous as she really was. She was nearly certain she seemed very calm by the time Viktor sat down in the chair across from her. He brought with him a large stack of books, most of which had Cyrillic titles on their spines. Those certainly looked challenging.

“Good effening, Miss Granger,” he said formally.

“Hello, Viktor. You can call me by my first name, you know,” she responded gently.

“I…am not able to say right so I do not say at all,” he said, seeming a bit embarrassed at this confession. 

“It didn’t sound that bad last night. Try it again,” she said in what she hoped was an encouraging voice. She knew she had a difficult-to-pronounce name. She supposed she should be grateful her parents hadn’t decided to name Adrasteia while they were looking for obscure Greek deities and semi-deities.

“Herminee?” he tried, looking almost adorable, if it was possible for world-famous Quidditch players to look adorable.

“That’s not bad! Her-my-own-ee,” she carefully sounded out.

“Her-mee-oh-nee?” he responded, getting a bit closer. 

“That’s fine. Close enough,” she said before motioning to the books he’d brought and saying, “These look interesting.”

He picked one up and said, “I think this is translation of Transfiguration book you look at vunce. You read it in French. This is Russian.” 

She thought back to when she’d read that book in French and realized it had been the time she’d found him deep in thought in the Foreign Language cubby. Clearly his memory was excellent and she nodded before responding, “Yes, I do enjoy reading books in other languages if I can. You might well miss something if you only read the English translation. I can’t read anything but French and a little German, though, which limits me.”

“You are lucky then. I read Bulgarian, Russian, some German, and not much English,” he said, making a slight face about his English skills.

She was pleased that he’d thought of that and said, “Well, then between us we should be able to puzzle out quite a few of the books in the Foreign Languages section.”

He began to say something but was halted by the rather raucous appearance of those girls that comprised his fan club. They were all speaking loudly and angrily, and some of them were shooting Hermione looks that would stun a hippogriff. Suddenly she decided enough was enough and half-rose from the table ready to go shoo them out of the library, but Madam Pince beat her to it.

“Now, that is quite enough. You young ladies,” the word ladies was said as if Madam Pince was dubious as to whether it applied in this case, “have disturbed my library far too many times this year and I do not appreciate it. Leave, and do not return tonight,” she finished, pointing towards the door. 

Some of the girls started to argue but withered under Madam Pince’s stare and they all left quietly, though not before throwing more angry glances at Hermione. She began to apologize to Madam Pince, but only got as far as “I’m sorry, Madam Pince” before she was interrupted.

“It’s quite alright, Hermione. I know neither you nor this young man want those girls here. Feel free to sit and chat as long as you like,” she said, throwing them both a rather arch glance before sitting down at the desk, glaring at the doors as if willing them to open and reveal a rogue fan club member.

Hermione shrugged slightly and sat fully into her chair again, prompting Viktor to begin speaking again with, “You were saying?”

He looked at the door once more before saying, “Yes. I thought ve could compare these two” with a motion to the two translations, “and see if there are any important differences in vord choice. I vill read and translate Russian if you vill help me vith English.”

And so began a very enjoyable discussion about all manner of academic and personal subjects before Hermione looked at the clock and realized just how long they’d been talking, “It’s already past eight! Madam Pince will be wanting to close the library and I should go up to the Common Room. I don’t want to break curfew.”

“Vell, ve should go then. I vould not vant you to be late,” he said, smiling and gathering up the books they’d pulled off the shelves. Hermione tried to pick up some books and discovered that she was being gently thwarted every time she tried to pick up a particularly large or heavy book. Finally she gave up and they walked, well, waddled to the cubby and Hermione used her chin to motion to the restocking shelf while saying, “Just put them there on the shelf there. They’ll put themselves back on the shelves tonight.” 

Viktor put his books on the shelf before taking her books from her and putting them on the shelf too. She looked up, suddenly aware that they were in each other’s personal space and that Viktor was looking at her with a mixture of affection and wonder. She suddenly felt very warm and blushed before brushing past him on the way back to the table. She was only in contact with him for about a second, if that, but it was long enough for her to notice the warmth radiating from him. Why was it that males seemed to be walking furnaces? She’d noticed it a bit when hugging Harry and Ron, but somehow it was amplified with Viktor. Or maybe she was just more aware of Viktor.

She put her various supplies into her rucksack as Viktor did the same and slung her bag over her back before Viktor said, “May I escort you to the portrait hole?” in that courteous way he had. 

The independent side of her made her say, “I’m quite able to find it on my own,” but she quickly added, “but if you like to accompany me, I wouldn’t object.”

Viktor held his arm out to her in invitation and she curled her fingers into the crook of his elbow, walking side by side up to the portrait hole and discussing some final points before she stopped and looked at him, hoping her nervousness didn’t show before saying, “Well, I’m not sure if this counts as a date, but I had a good time.”

Viktor smiled and said, “As did I, Her-mee-oh-nee,” before holding his hand out to take hers. She placed her hand in his and he gently kissed it before bowing and turning towards the stairs. A part of her was disappointed that the date had ended and before she knew it, she’d said, “Wait!”

Viktor turned and looked at her inquiringly, so she decided that as long as she was in for a penny, she might as well be in for a pound and walked over to him, braced her hands on his upper arms, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him lightly on his cheek. At that point her nerve fled and she blushed approximately ten shades of scarlet before running into the common room and leaning against the door. Ginny was sitting before the fire working on an essay, although she looked up when Hermione entered. She gave Hermione a sly glance and said “Been running footraces between here and the library?” but didn’t ask any further questions, fortunately.

Hermione’s heart rate was certainly behaving like she’d run a marathon, and perhaps she had, emotionally. How many other days did you pass notes like a member of MI-6 and then follow that by being stared down by groupies, not to mention discussing Charm Theory in multiple languages with a handsome Quidditch player and follow that by kissing him on the cheek?

Definitely a marathon sort of day.


End file.
